‘Peabody & Sherman’s’ strange trip falls flat

Sherman (Max Charles), Penny (Ariel Winter) and Mr Peabody (Ty Burrell) y travel to ancient Egypt and find themselves in trouble and having to flee to the WABAC before they reverse history in a scene from “Mrs. Peabody and Shgerman.”
(Photo:
DreamWorks Animation
)

One of the most-beloved bits in “The Bullwinkle Show” was “Peabody’s Improbable History,” a series of short cartoon segments starring Mr. Peabody, a genius dog, and Sherman, his human adopted son.

Thanks to the WABAC machine, one of Mr. Peabody’s inventions, the two could travel back in time, so that Sherman could witness history in person. Like everything in “Bullwinkle,” it had a nice little subversive edge of insanity, making it just weird enough to appeal to parents, as well as the kids at which the show was ostensibly aimed.

Plus, it featured some really great — which is to say, awful — puns.

“Mr. Peabody &’ Sherman,” the big-screen, feature-length version of the duo’s adventures, retains the main characters, the WABAC machine, the trips through history — but not the sense of nuttiness that made the TV cartoon so delightful.

Instead, Rob Minkoff’s film has the generic feel of a kids’ movie that’s trying to please everyone. It’s not horrible. In fact, it’s agreeable enough. But nothing more. The delightful Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) puts his own idiosyncratic spin on Mr. Peabody’s voice. (He has a distinctive way of speaking that’s instantly recognizable.) And Max Charles is suitably cute as Sherman.

But as a whole, the film falls flat.

Naturally, screenwriter Craig Wright had to stretch things out to make a whole movie. The story revolves around Sherman going, for the first time, to school. Naturally there are interesting discussions in history class. He’s seen most of what they’re studying in person, after all (though he keeps his WABAC visits a secret).

It’s not Sherman’s fault, not really. He’s so desperate to impress Penny that he crosses the line. Next thing you know they’re in ancient Egypt, and Penny is about to become the child bride of the child ruler King Tut (Zach Callison).

And so it goes, with other trips to and from history, with the associated problems to solve. Given the nature of the story, Minkoff is locked into piecing together set pieces involving different visits into the past. Eventually, however, a mishap creates a rift in the ever-popular space-time continuum.

So, more drama.

The film pushes the father-son relationship between Mr. Peabody and Sherman far more than the shorts did. And while it’s tempting to say, ugh, it’s a dog and a kid, this is, after all, a story about a genius dog and the boy he adopts. So that part’s OK. It’s just that it works hard to smooth out the rough edges, which is a big part of what made the original so charming.

As “Bullwinkle” fans know — and surely everyone must be one — the ragged animation was part and parcel of the shaggy genius of the show. “Mr. Peabody & Sherman” looks great, in the way any TV insurance commercial or web video might. But that misses the point.

As, to some extent, does the movie. It’s OK. But, unlike the TV bits, it’s not really memorable.